Murray State University Amateur Radio Club

Kentucky State Parks on the Air

To promote public awareness of ham radio and Kentucky’s beautiful state park and national park system; to contribute to the recognition that Kentucky has a very diverse and wonderful ecology; to promote camaraderie within the ranks of Kentucky’s Amateur Radio Operators; to encourage contact with other Amateur Radio Operators around the state, country, and world; and to provide additional operating experience for Amateur Radio Operators.

Objective

To have competing stations operating from as many of Kentucky’s fifty state parks and nine national sites (referred to here as Kentucky Parks) as possible. Making contacts from a Kentucky Park to other Kentucky Parks is the goal all stations should strive for. Note: Non-Kentucky stations may work only Kentucky stations located in a Kentucky Park; Kentucky stations not located in a Kentucky Park may only contact stations operating from inside a Kentucky Park

Modes of Operation: SSB, CW and Digital
(Only digital modes capable of including the park ID in the exchange can be allowed)

Amateur Radio Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters.

Please honor all band plans.

Stations may be worked once on each band and mode.

Suggested Frequencies

These are only suggested frequencies. Operators should use good amateur radio practices and be considerate of others – do not cause interference.

Band (Meters) Phone (MHz)

80 3.825

40 7.200

20 14.250

15 21.300

10 28.450

Entry Categories

MML – Multi-Op Multi-Transmitter Low Power (.1 to 100 watts) located at one Kentucky Park

MMH – Multi-Op Multi-Transmitter High Power (>100 watts) located at one Kentucky Park

MSL – Multi-Op Single-Transmitter Low Power (.1 to 100 watts) located at one Kentucky Park

MSH – Multi-Op Single-Transmitter High Power (>100 watts) located at one Kentucky Park

SL – Single Operator Low Power (.1 to 100 watts) located at one Kentucky Park

SH – Single Operator High Power (>100 watts) located at one Kentucky Park

INKY – Operator (Single or Multi) inside Kentucky not at a Kentucky Park (low or high power)

OUT – Operator (Single or Multi) outside of Kentucky (low or high power)

Reminder: Low Power = .1 to 100 watts High Power = Greater than 100 watts

Entry Category Definitions:

Single Operator Entry: One person (one call sign) performs all operating and logging functions. Only one transmitted signal is permitted on the air at any time.

Multi-Op Multi-Transmitter Entry: Entries where more than one person performs the operatingand/or logging functions using more than one transmitter. Multi-Op Multi-Transmitter entries may employ multiple transmitters simultaneously on different bands. One call sign used.

Multi-Op Single-Transmitter Entry: Entries where one or more persons perform the operating and/or logging functions using only one transmitter. One call sign used.

Kentucky Park Identifiers

Park: ID: Park: ID:

Barren River Lake BRL Big Bone Lick BBL

Blue Licks Battlefield BLB Breaks Interstate BI

Buckhorn Lake BLR Carr Creek CC

Carter Caves CCR Columbus-Belmont CB

Cumberland Falls CF Dale Hollow DH

Dawkins Line Rail trail DLR Dr. Thomas Walker DTW

“Tom” Sawyer TS Ft. Boonesborough FB

General Burnside Island GB General Butler GB

Grayson Lake GL Green River Lake GRL

Greenbo Lake GLR Isaac Shelby Cemetery ISC

Jefferson Davis JD Jenny Wiley JW

John James Audubon JJA Kenlake KLR

Kentucky Dam Village KDV Kincaid Lake KL

Kingdon Come KC Lake Barkley LB

Lake Cumberland LCR Lake Malone LM

Levi Jackson Wilderness LJW Lincoln Homestead LH

Mineral Mounds MM My Old Kentucky Home MKH

Natural Bridge NB Nolin Lake NL

Old Fort Harrod OFH Old Mulkey Meetinghouse OMM

Paintsville Lake PL Pennyrile Forest PF

Perryville Battlefield PB Pine Mountain PMR

Pine Mountain Scenic Trail PMT Rough River Dam RRD

Taylorsville Lake TL Waveland Historic Site WSH

White Hall Historic Site WH Wickliffe Mounds WM

William Whitley House WWH Yatesville Lake YL

Kentucky National Sites

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace ALB Big South Fork BSF

Camp Nelson CN Cumberland Gap CG

Fort Donelson FD Lewis and Clark LAC

Mammoth Cave MC Trail of Tears TT

Land Between the Lakes LBL

Exchange

– Stations operating from a Kentucky Park send their call sign and their Kentucky State Park Identifier. Example: “K8BF, LBL”

All contest stations must be inside the actual boundary of the Kentucky Park they are reporting to be transmitting from. You cannot pull off the highway near a Kentucky Park and claim to be in the Kentucky Park. Our expectations are for everyone to operate on an honor system and follow all the rules in order for this contest to be fair to everyone that participates. This is a RADIO contest and you should put in your log what you heard during the contest – not what you found on the internet afterwards.

Operation from a boat is allowed but the locations (GPS coordinates) and the nearest mile maker on the lake operated from must be supplied as part of the entry. The operation must occur within the park boundary or from within a bay where the park is located. Operations from within a bay on the LBL side of either Kentucky Lake or Barkley Lake will be considered as located in LBL and must be surrounded on three sides by LBL territory. For example, at Kenlake State Park (see image to the right) operation within the bay containing the Kentucky Dam Marina is considered inside of the park because the bay is under the control of the park. Likewise, the bay where Kenlake Marina is located is also considered to be inside the park.

Scoring

– QSO POINTS – Each complete non-duplicate contact is worth one point, per mode, per park.

-Call signs and exchange information must be received, confirmed and logged by both stations for a complete contest QSO.

– No cross-mode contacts and no credit for contacts made through repeaters or satellites.

– Please honor all band plans.

– No station may claim simultaneous operation of the same call sign in more than one Kentucky Park, State, Province or Country at the same time. Except the host club call sign, K4MSU.

– No individual shall make a QSO utilizing more than one call sign.

– Stations inside a Kentucky Park must make a minimum of four contacts. Three of the four contacts being made to three other (different from where you are transmitting from) Kentucky Park stations. This gives others the opportunity to contact your Kentucky Park.

– Multi-Operator entries may only use one call sign during the contest.

– Contacts made with captive stations do not support the stated purpose of KYPOTA and will not be counted. This includes contacts made with other passengers in a mobile, as well as so-called “California Train operations”, wherein a group of mobiles travel together for purposes of making contacts within the group.

– Soliciting for contacts is encouraged to promote more contacts being made during the contest. You can ask a station to meet you on a different band in order to make an additional contact. You should not self-spot on a cluster or spotting network, but you can ask another ham operator that is not in your group to spot you.

– Use of spotting networks is allowed. Since the use of mobile smart phones and wi-fi in Kentucky Parks is now commonplace, looking up spots on clusters is easy to do. This will encourage additional contacts for everyone during the contest.

– Remote operations are not allowed. Remote operations are defined as an operator having a transmitter at one location (example: in a State Park) and is controlling it remotely from another 6 of 7 location (example: outside the State Park). Or an operator has a receiver in a different location than the transmitter where the operator is located. For this contest the operator, transmitter and receiver must be in the same location.

– If you are multi-op, you can get assistance from other humans in your operation. We encourage the monitoring of packet or spotting systems during the contest so additional awareness of the contest can be made to encourage participation during the contest.

– Decisions of the Kentucky Parks On The Air Contest Committee are final.

Reporting

– E-mail entries to: KYPOTA@murray-ky.net

– Logs must clearly indicate UTC time (not local time), Band, Mode, Call Sign Contacted,
State/Province/DX, or Kentucky Park Identifier received for all QSOs as applicable.

– Cabrillo files are required to be used for log submissions.

– E-mailed logs must be sent to KYPOTA@murray-ky.net and must be sent in no later than September 12, 2020, 14 days after the end of the contest. Logs arriving after the 14 day entry window will be considered check logs.

Reasons Why Your Log May Be Considered a ‘Checklog’

– Log sheet(s) missing – UTC times not listed – exchanges missing.

– Log sheet arrives past the due date.

– Part or all of the operation occurred outside of the boundary of a Kentucky park or outside of Kentucky for a park that spans states.

If you have any questions, please contact the KYPOTA team by e-mail: KYPOTA@murray-ky.net

Awards

Electronic Certificates will be awarded to:

– 1st place – in each of the entry categories (Overall High Score entry will also be noted on the top winner’s certificate)

Certificates will be awarded to: – 2nd and 3rd place – in each of the entry categories

Logs must be emailed no later than September 12, 2020, 14 days after the contest.

Mission:

The mission of the Murray State University Amateur Radio Club, is to provide and conduct programs and activities that promote interest in Amateur Radio within the campus and community, and that advance the knowledge, abilities and welfare of the membership in their enjoyment of ham radio.